Читать книгу Thrifty Stock, and Other Stories - Ben Ames Williams - Страница 10

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Down at Johnny’s house, Lucy knocked at the kitchen door and Johnny let her in. He was washing dishes and putting them away. “I’ve finished supper, just finished supper,” he said awkwardly.

“I wanted to comfort you, Johnny,” Lucy told him.

He looked at her, rubbing his plate in his hands with the cloth. “That’s—mighty nice,” he said.

“You mustn’t be unhappy. I don’t want you to be unhappy,” she explained, still standing just within the door. She was plucking away her wraps, laid her coat aside.

“You’re a mighty sweet girl,” Johnny told her, rubbing his plate as though the motion of his hands had hypnotized him.

“I want to take care of you,” said Lucy.

Johnny considered, and saw that she had come a little nearer where he stood. “I guess it would be nice if we got married,” he suggested. “Wouldn’t it?”

Lucy suddenly smiled, tenderly amused at him. Her eyes, full of tears, were dancing. “I think it would be nice, Johnny,” she agreed. And moved a little nearer still. She did not have to go all the way.

The plate, unbroken by its fall, rolled across the floor toward the stove, and tilted over there, and whirled to rest like a dying top, oscillating to and fro on its rim with a sound faintly like the sound of bells.